Garhwal Post Bureau
Nainital, 19 Nov: Uttarakhand High Court today heard a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking an inquiry into allegedly invalid disability certificates through which dozens of personnel in the Education Department are alleged to have availed reservation benefits. During the hearing, the director of the department concerned appeared via video conferencing in compliance with an earlier court order. He informed the court that he had taken charge only a few days earlier and requested time to examine the matter, upon which the court granted him a week’s time. The next hearing has been scheduled for 28 November.
Earlier, the court had issued a notice to the Director General of the State Medical Board. Of the 52 appointments made under the disability quota in the categories of teachers and clerical staff after the formation of the State, the Medical Board has found only 13 appointments to be valid. During the re-evaluation conducted by the Board in 2022, the remaining personnel either remained absent, were found to have discrepancies in their certificates, or were not considered eligible under the disability category.
The National Federation of the Blind, Uttarakhand unit, filed the PIL, alleging that ineligible individuals had fraudulently taken advantage of reservation under the ‘visually impaired’ category, thereby depriving genuinely disabled candidates of their constitutional rights. The petition states that despite repeated complaints at the administrative level, no effective or transparent action has been taken so far as a remedial measure.
The petition further alleges that many Education Department employees under the disability quota deliberately avoided appearing before the State Medical Board for the 2022 evaluation, raising strong suspicion that their certificates may be forged. Counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Gaurav Paliwal, informed the court that even the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities had dismissed the complaint, overlooking the request for re-verification from AIIMS Rishikesh.
